A student confessed that he'd been copying other students' work today. I kind of knew this, but didn't know to what extent. Apparently he's been copying almost everything, and now he's depressed because he feels like he's so behind. He's a smart kid, and could be really good at this stuff, but just made the choice early on to coast. Today I sat with him and looked for some tutorials online to catch him up.
I will sometimes call kids out for cheating, when I am sure of it and when I think it will provoke a good discussion. Sometimes it exposes bad teaching on my part, and that's useful (though sometimes initially hard to take, depending on how much sleep I've had). In this case, I knew that he would eventually get to the point in the curriculum where he would realize he could no longer cheat, and that realization would be a more effective motivator than me badgering him to do his own work. That's happened. He'll have a rough time now, for a little while, and that will be hard for both of us. I think it's what he needs, though. And a good chance for me to practice being gentle and firm at the same time.